Sarah Tsukigawa, the former New Zealand allrounder, has been appointed their new national selector for women's cricket. She played 42 ODIs and 19 T20Is over a five-year international career which began in 2006 and ended in 2011.
Tsukigawa will be working with the New Zealand's head coach Ben Sawyer. Her role will include selecting players not only for the national team but also to those just below that level in the women's cricket pathway. New Zealand are preparing to host Australia in two weeks and then head over to the UAE for the Women's T20 World Cup. The squads for both those assignments will be announced on September 10 at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
"I've always wanted to get back involved in women's cricket and give back to the game that has given me so much," Tsukigawa, who was captain, and later assistant coach and selector, at Otago, said. She held the latter two positions while continuing her career as a teacher in Dunedin.
Tsukigawa was part of the New Zealand team that played the 2009 T20 World Cup final. She also represented them in the ODI World Cup that same year. "Clear communication is an important part of selection and I feel I can bring that, along with my experience as a player," she said in an NZC release. "I've got a lot of belief in this current group of White Ferns and the pathway that is being developed to produce future White Ferns."
NZC Head of Women's High Performance, Liz Green, explained the women's national selector would be responsible for the identification of talent across the women's pathway and succession planning - which could come into play immediately with Sophie Devine's decision to step down as T20I captain following the upcoming World Cup. Devine, however, wishes to keep the leadership role in ODIs.
"Sarah has a clear passion for talent identification and development," Green said. "She has a unique skillset with her experience both as a player and a selector, so she brings an understanding of the selection process from both points of view.